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July is the month when the Northern Hemisphere's summer islands and the Southern Hemisphere's dry-season islands are good at the same time. That gives you more real choices than any other month, and it is why the list below spans Greece, Fiji, the southern Caribbean, Hawaii, Spain, East Africa, Indonesia and Italy.
It also has a catch in two places. The Atlantic and Central Pacific hurricane seasons both began on June 1, and July is still the quiet early part of both. Our score takes a small storm deduction for July in those basins, and a much larger one from August. Read the storm section below before you book the Caribbean or Hawaii for late summer.
The ten islands were chosen by numbers, not by taste. Each one has a July weather score of at least 7 out of 10, and no region takes more than three places, so the list is not ten Greek islands in a row.
At a glance
Best overall
Crete: a dry, hot month with the sea at its swimming best and a week of sights
Best with no passport
Maui (#4) and Oahu (#7), both in the Central Pacific hurricane season but usually calm in July
Best value
Bali, Fiji and Zanzibar, with July rooms from $30 to $41 a night
Closest to the East Coast
Curaçao and Jamaica, with nonstops from 6 and 24 US airports
Skip in July
Thailand's Andaman coast (Phuket, Phi Phi), in the wet southwest monsoon
The ranking
Score = 55% this month's weather + 45% the island's other five factors. How we score
Crete is #1 because it is close to perfect on July weather and near the top on everything we score by hand. The daytime high at Heraklion averages 88°F (31°C), the sea 80°F (26°C), and it barely rains: 0.2 inches in the month. Its beaches score 9 and things to do 9.5, from the lagoon at Elafonisi to Knossos and Chania's old harbor. What holds it back is access: there is no US nonstop, so you fly via Athens. Rent a car, pick one half of the island, and note that Samaria Gorge is closed until further notice. The cheapest July room we found in Chania was $112.
Fiji is #2 because July is the middle of its dry season and it is the best-value long-haul island on the site. Nadi averages an 83°F (29°C) high, an 80°F (27°C) sea and 1.9 inches of rain, with the cyclone season months away. Value and crowd scores are both 10: the cheapest 3-star room in Nadi was $39 for July 14, 2027, and visitors are spread thin. Fiji Airways flies nonstop from Los Angeles, San Francisco and Honolulu. The catch is the mainland beaches near Nadi, which are average. Base yourself on a Mamanuca island and budget for the boat transfer.
Curaçao is #3 and the best Caribbean pick for July. It is hot and dry, with an 87°F (31°C) high, an 83°F (28°C) sea and 1.7 inches of rain, and it sits south of the main hurricane track, so our storm deduction is half the usual Caribbean one. NOAA's records show only one hurricane, Felix in 2007, passing within 50 nautical miles since 1950. Rooms are cheap for the region: $62 in Willemstad, and six US airports fly nonstop. You need a car for the coves at Grote Knip and Playa Lagun, and every visitor must file the free online Dicard before landing.
Maui is #4 and the best July island that needs no passport. Summer is its dry, calm season on the west and south shores: an 85°F (30°C) high, an 81°F (27°C) sea and 0.6 inches of rain, which suits families at Napili Bay and the Kihei beach parks. Beaches and things to do both score 9. Price is the weak factor: $216 a night in Kihei in July, which is still $80 less than our January date. July falls inside the Central Pacific hurricane season, though our deduction for it is small. Lahaina is still a construction zone, with Front Street reopened only on August 1, 2026.
Mallorca is #5: beach weather with a city and mountains attached, and the only island on this list with a nonstop from the US East Coast to Europe in summer. United flies Newark to Palma in season, daily from May 26, 2027. July brings an 89°F (32°C) high, an 81°F (27°C) sea and 0.3 inches of rain. The crowd score is low, 3.8 out of 10, because the island takes about 13.6 million tourists a year. Go early to the coves at Caló des Moro, or stay on the long shallow sand of Alcúdia bay. The cheapest July room near Palma was $135, plus the Balearic tourist tax of $2.25 to $4.49 (€2 to €4) per night.
Zanzibar is #6 because July is the start of its best season and nothing else here is as cheap. Expect an 81°F (27°C) high, an 80°F (27°C) sea and 1.9 inches of rain, against the long rains of April and May. The cheapest 3-star room in Nungwi was $41 for July 14, 2027. Access drags it down: there is no US nonstop, you connect via Doha, Dubai or Istanbul, and a US citizen pays a $100 visa plus $44 for the island's compulsory insurance. Stay in Nungwi or Kendwa if you want to swim at any tide, and spend a night in Stone Town.
Oahu is #7, close behind Maui on July weather: an 84°F (29°C) high, an 80°F (27°C) sea and 0.8 inches of rain. Summer is when the North Shore goes calm enough to snorkel at Shark's Cove and swim at Waimea Bay. Honolulu has nonstops from 28 US airports, the most in Hawaii, and no passport is needed. Two factors keep it below Maui: crowds, at 3.9 out of 10, and beaches, 8 against Maui's 9. July is not Oahu's cheap month either. The cheapest Waikiki room was $169, against $139 in January.
Bali is #8, near the peak of its dry season: an 82°F (28°C) high, an 82°F (28°C) sea and 2.3 inches of rain, with July to September the driest months. It scores 9.5 for things to do, from the Ubud rice terraces to a Mount Batur sunrise, and 10 for value: a well-reviewed Seminyak 4-star was $30 a night on our July date. Two factors pull it down: beaches at 6.5, because the west coast is surf and the calm water is at Nusa Dua and Sanur, and access, with no US nonstop. Add a $28 visa on arrival and the $8 tourist levy.
Jamaica is #9. On numbers alone it would rank higher: an 87°F (31°C) high, an 85°F (29°C) sea, 24 US nonstop airports and $53 rooms in Montego Bay. Two things hold it back. Our island page rates it conditional, because Hurricane Melissa's damage still keeps seven large Montego Bay resorts closed until 2027, and that costs 0.4 points. July is also inside the Atlantic hurricane season, with 2.5 inches of rain in an average July. Base yourself in Negril or Ocho Rios, and check your resort on the Jamaica Tourist Board's reopening list.
Sicily is #10 and the island with the most to do on the whole site: things to do scores a full 10, for Agrigento, Palermo, Siracusa and Etna. July is not its best weather month. The average high at Catania is 91°F (33°C), past our ideal range, so the weather score slips to 9.1. The sea is a warm 83°F (28°C) and rain is a trace. Delta flies nonstop from New York JFK to Catania, and the cheapest July room in the Taormina area was $140. Etna ash can close Catania airport for a day or more, as it did in August 2026, so book flexible fares.
Each island's July score blends two numbers. Fifty-five percent is its July weather score, built from ten years of daily weather at its main airport and four years of sea temperatures. The other 45% is everything else we score: beaches, things to do, access from the US, hotel value and crowds, with a deduction if our island page rates it conditional. An island needs a July weather score of at least 7 to qualify, and each region is capped at three places. The full formula, with every weight and source, is on how we score islands.
That is why Crete beats Maui even though Maui has better access and no passport rule: Crete's July weather scores a full 10, and its beaches and sights score as high as Maui's while its hotels cost about a third as much.
Which July island fits your trip
No passport.Maui and Oahu are the only two US islands in the top ten. Pick Maui for beaches and the Hana road, Oahu for more flights, cheaper rooms and a city. See our Hawaii in July ranking.
The shortest flight from the East Coast. Curaçao and Jamaica. Curaçao is the safer storm bet; Jamaica has more flights and more to do.
Europe with the least connecting. Mallorca, with United's seasonal Newark nonstop, or Sicily via Delta's JFK to Catania flight. Crete scores higher but always takes a connection in Athens.
The lowest hotel bill. Bali, Fiji and Zanzibar. Their July rooms cost $30 to $41 a night. The flights cost far more than to the Caribbean, so price the whole trip.
Calm water for small children. Crete's Elafonisi lagoon, Mallorca's Alcúdia bay and Maui's west-side bays. Bali's west coast is surf.
Good in July, but not in the top ten
Naxos came eleventh, just behind Sicily. Its July weather scores 9.5 and its sandy west coast is ideal for families. Aruba has a 9.6 July weather score but scores lower on value and crowds. Puerto Rico ranks first overall on the site, yet its July weather scores 8.3 because of rain and the hurricane deduction, which leaves it just outside. The Greek islands most Americans name first, Santorini and Mykonos, have near-perfect July weather but score low on value and crowds in summer.
Skip the Andaman side of Thailand: Phuket is in the southwest monsoon, with rough seas and red flags on the west-coast beaches. If you are set on Thailand, Koh Samui on the Gulf side is the July answer, covered in our Thai islands in July ranking. Kauai is also off this list for now: Hurricane Lowell hit it in September 2026, and Koke'e Road and most of its state parks were still closed on October 19, 2026.
Hurricanes, wind and heat in July
The NOAA National Hurricane Center gives the Atlantic season as June 1 to November 30, with most activity between mid-August and mid-October. July is early, but not empty, so buy travel insurance for a July Caribbean trip and read what it says about named storms. Hawaii's season, run by the Central Pacific Hurricane Center, has the same dates. Our hurricane and cyclone guide sets out the risk month by month.
The Mediterranean has no hurricane season, but it has two summer problems. The meltemi, a strong north wind, blows across the Aegean from about mid-May to mid-September and can roughen exposed beaches. Wildfire is the other: fires on Rhodes in July 2023 forced the largest evacuation in Greek history. Heat matters too. Sicily's inland sites are best at opening time, when the July average high at Catania is 91°F.
Passports, entry rules and costs for a July trip
Eight of these ten islands need a US passport. For Crete, Mallorca and Sicily, the EU's Entry/Exit System has taken fingerprints and a photo at the border since April 10, 2026. ETIAS, the EU travel authorization, is not yet operating and has no start date. Zanzibar needs a visa and its own insurance; Bali a visa on arrival and a levy; Curaçao its online Dicard; Jamaica its online C5 form. Our passport rules guide lists them.
For Maui and Oahu you need a REAL ID-compliant license or a passport at the airport. Without one, TSA charges a $45 ConfirmID fee. Hawaii's lodging tax rose to 11% on January 1, 2026, and Greek hotels add a climate resilience fee of $5.60 (€5) per room per night at a 3-star from April to October.
Booking through these links supports this site at no cost to you. Prices move by date, so we do not print them here; the official prices we checked are in the page above.
Frequently asked questions
Where is warm and dry in July?
The Mediterranean, the southern Caribbean, Hawaii, Bali, Fiji and Zanzibar. In our data, Crete and Sicily get a trace of rain in July, Maui under an inch, and Fiji and Zanzibar are in their dry seasons. The tropical Andaman coast of Thailand is the main warm place that is wet in July.
Is July hurricane season in the Caribbean?
Yes. The Atlantic season runs June 1 to November 30, per the National Hurricane Center, but most activity comes from mid-August to mid-October. July carries a small risk. Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire lie south of the usual track, which is why Curaçao is the top Caribbean island on this list.
Is July a good time to visit Hawaii?
Yes, for the leeward beaches. Maui and Oahu both score 9.7 for July weather in our data, and summer is when Oahu's North Shore is calm. It is inside the Central Pacific hurricane season, and Oahu's July hotel prices were higher than its January ones on our dates.
What is the best island in Europe in July?
Crete, by our scores, followed by Mallorca and Sicily. Crete has the best mix of beaches and sights. Mallorca is the easiest to reach, with a seasonal Newark nonstop. Sicily has the most to see but the hottest days. See our Europe ranking.
Which island is cheapest in July?
On hotel prices, Bali, Fiji and Zanzibar, at $30 to $41 for the cheapest qualifying room on July 14, 2027. In the Caribbean, Jamaica ($53) and Curaçao ($62) were the cheapest on this list. Our cheap islands ranking compares all 64.
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